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Riverside's Sendai Relief Fund

Donation Progress:

Latest Updates

We have reached and exceeded our goal of $500,000! The City will keep the
Sendai Relief Fund open through the end of May and send a supplemental check at the close
of the campaign. Read More...

Tuesday - March 22, 2011

Community leaders reconvened March 21 at City Hall to announce their initial $250,000 goal had been reached and set a new stretch goal of $1 million.

Mayor Pro Tem Chris MacArthur said with the City of Riverside’s donation of $100,000 and the County’s donation of $50,000, the immediate target of $250,000 would be met. He said that ongoing impacts from the disaster and threats from the nuclear situation are raising the stakes and, “the community now needs to stretch and double its efforts”. In the next two weeks, Riverside will work to raise another $250,000. Contributions made to the Red Cross and other relief organizations by the Riverside community are expected to raise the remaining $500,000.

The City of Riverside expresses its deepest condolences to all who are affected by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan, especially its Sister City Sendai.

By now you have probably seen the alarming images or at least heard of the devastation along the east coast of Japan. Sendai was one of the worst hit areas , located just 105 miles from the epicenter of the quake and directly in the path of the tsunami that followed.

Riverside and Sendai have been friends since 1951 and sister cities since 1957 in what is one of the oldest continuous sister city relationships in the United States. Over the past five decades there have been museum, citizen, youth, and governmental exchanges between the two cities. In 2007, on the 50th anniversary of the relationship, Sendai gave Riverside the gift of a Japanese Garden at White Park in Downtown Riverside. Riverside’s 50th anniversary gift to Sendai was a giant orange sculpture that commemorates the citrus heritage of Riverside as well as the historic ties between the two cities.

Ronald O. Loveridge, Riverside’s Mayor said, "The past exchanges of friendship between Riverside and Sendai have been many, and they have been meaningful. If there ever was a time to extend our hand of friendship, that time is now."

If you wish to make a donation in person, check and cash payments are accepted at City Hall in the Mayor’s office, 3900 Main Street, 7th Floor, Riverside, CA 92522.

Contributions to the City of Riverside are tax deductible under Section 170(c)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code. Depending of your circumstances, you may be able to deduct some or all of your contribution. Please consult with your tax advisor.

100% of the contributions to the Sendai Relief Fund will go directly to a charitable organization in the City of Sendai to be used exclusively for disaster relief efforts in the City of Sendai.